We’ll be away from May 15 to June 4, because we’re going to Tasmania! My husband, Tim, will be posted there for work for the next three weeks, and I thought, what better time to take a break than joining him there? I’ve never been to Tassie before, and I’m super excited about the trip. Tasmania is underrated as a holiday destination (I reckon all that country sights aren’t everyone’s cup of tea), and I really can’t wait to check it out.

Etsy is my absolute favourite shopping site for unique, handmade items. In fact, I have so much fun with it that it’s becoming dangerous for me to even keep the webpage opened on my browser for with my lack of self-control, I will end up buying a LOT of stuff

Not every piece is sold on Etsy though. At the moment, the items available on Etsy would be our necklaces, bracelets, watches and bridal jewellery.

Other than the fact that Etsy has a very good and helpful community of similar-minded creative members (*ahem*), which would really help us, the main reason for us to be on Etsy is for the convenience and ease of customers who would prefer to transact in US dollars.

Our USD prices on Etsy are equivalent to the AUD prices on the official Sweet Contemplation Accessories store, from product prices to shipping fees. So, if you would prefer to pay in USD, feel free to purchase from our Etsy store instead.

And guess what? We will also be having promotions on Etsy from time to time which will not be available in store (vice versa)!

For updates and new promo deals, do subscribe to our official weblog feed. You can subscribe to our RSS feed on your favourite RSS reader, or subscribe via email. We are highly against spam (I will fight them to the death!), so you will only get an email update when we update our blog.

You can also follow us on Twitter. All promotions will be announced on the blog and Twitter, so do stay tuned!

Sometimes, reworking pieces of jewellery is a way to keep things fresh and in perspective. There are times when, after a while, if the piece does not sell, it’s time to either take it down, or jazz the design up a little to see if we can come up with something better.

A month ago, I came up with the design for the necklace, Taking Flight. I acquired a few antique silver swallow charms, and couldn’t wait to integrate them with some fresh water rice pearls I had. The original design I came up with was this:

Initially, I thought they were just only …mmm … okay. The pearls were a tad big for delicateness of the necklace and swallow charm to be arranged that way, but they looked good resting on the table that way that I gave it the green light to be displayed in the store. Not long after that, Kahani from So Loverly contacted me with regards to the necklace. She asked if the pearls would spoil the way the necklace hung due to the pearls. It was time to take it out again. Indeed she was right. The way the pearls rested on the neck was not as good as I expected. Time for some reworking and modification of the design.

As the chain was pretty delicate, I decided to use smaller pearls this time. Instead of hanging the pearls in a row, I figured it would be prettier to arrange them in a cluster. Plus it wouldn’t look so cluttered and busy. Voila! The new and improved Taking Flight – a lighter, more delicate design. I call this version 2.0

Reworking is great for freshening up old pieces. I do this with my old jewellery as well. Better than letting them sit in my jewellery case and not wear them because they’re dated, why not take them apart and make something new out of ‘em?